Why is Bill Murray at UConn games in March Madness 2024?

Seeing the legendary actor Bill Murray on the silver screen is something people might be excited about, but certainly not surprised. That could also be said for seeing Murray at Chicago Cubs games as the Evanston, IL native is a diehard Cubbies fan and became a fixture at games during the historic 2016 World Series run. But more lately, he's become a staple in college basketball, especially in March Madness.

Whenever the NCAA Tournament gets going, we're used to seeing familiar faces in the crowds. In recent years, we've seen Roy Williams at North Carolina games, Mike Krzyzewski at Duke games and so on. But those connections are obvious and easy to explain. Seeing Bill Murray in the stands in UConn Huskies gear supporting last year's national champions, however, is far less apparent.

So why is Bill Murray at March Madness supporting the UConn Huskies? As it turns out, it's about as good of a reason as you could find for that.

Why is Bill Murray at UConn games in March Madness 2024?

Bill Murray shows up to support the UConn Huskies in March Madness, and at other times throughout the season too, because his son, Luke Murray, is an assistant coach on Dan Hurley's staff. Murray also recently expressed his strong love and affinity for the NCAA Tournament and even the Big East Tournament, which he also attended at Madison Square Garden in 2024 to watch UConn, in an interview on The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon.

Murray was also in the stands supporting his son and UConn throughout all of March Madness in 2023 as the Huskies went on to win the national championship. Perhaps his best moment was the pure joy, amusement and hilarity of then-Huskies big man Adama Sanogo drilling a deep 3-pointer late in the second half of UConn's First Round victory over Iona.

Murray and March Madness are no strangers to one another because of Luke's profession and the actor's son's legitimate rise through the coaching ranks. Bill Murray just hasn't always been in UConn gear, though, as his son as had an interesting career to this point, but this job might be more meaningful to Luke as he graduated from Fairfield College in Connecticut in 2007.

Luke Murray coaching career: Bill Murray's son hitched to Dan Hurley

Luke Murray isn't just known for being Bill Murray's son these days, and nor should he be. His college basketball coaching career has been filled with successes at virtually every stop to this point.

His first assistant coaching job after personnel and graduate roles with Qunnipiac, Post and Arizona. With Quinnipiac, he worked with now-UConn coworker and assistant Tom Moore. But it was now-Huskies head coach Dan Hurley who gave Murray his first full role as an assistant coach with the Wagner Seahawks for the 2010-11 season, where Hurley was the head man at the time.

After that season, he spent two years as an assistant for the Towson Tigers, including leading a 17-game turnaround from year-to-year, one of the biggest single-season improvements in college hoops history. He then reunited with Hurley ahead of the 2013-14 season as he took a position on Hurley's staff with the Rhode Island Rams, where Murray worked for two seasons.

Luke Murray then saw his career really begin to take off as he joined Chris Mack's staff with the Xavier Musketeers in 2015. He spent three seasons there with Mack, which is when we first began to see his farther, Bill, show up in March Madness as Mack and Murray helped lead Xavier to three straight NCAA Tournament berths. Murray then followed Mack to the Louisville Cardinals ahead of the 2018-19 season where he spent three more years before his contract was not renewed.

That's when he was once again reunited with Hurley, the third stint for the two cohorts in college basketball coaching. And based on the results with the UConn Huskies thus far with Hurley and Murray on the staff -- and perhaps Bill Murray in the stands too -- it seems like the pairing is certainly working well again.

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